Weld County man sentenced to decade in prison after eighth DUI conviction

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Albaro Bustillos

GREELEY, Colo. — A Hudson man arrested multiple times over the past two decades for driving while intoxicated is going to prison again.

Albaro Bustillos, 53, was sentenced to a decade in prison on Thursday after being found guilty of his eighth DUI in March, the Weld County District Attorney’s Office said.

Bustillos’ first drunk driving offense was in 1994. Since then, he has been convicted on similar charges in Westminster, Commerce City, Brighton and other Weld County communities.

“It’s clear the defendant can’t stop drinking and driving,” Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said. “He’s been to treatment, probation, even extended periods in jail. Nothing has worked. Prison is the only option at this point to keep the public safe.”

On March 12, 2016 Bustillos was found sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle on the side of Weld County Road 79 in Hudson. He had his head down and later claimed to have gotten lost while trying to get to a party.

Bustillos told the officer he had only had two beers, but testing showed his blood alcohol content level was 0.227 percent, nearly three times above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

“Not only is a .227 BAC past the point of drunk, it’s getting very close to the point of death,” Rourke said. “If he’s not willing to put community safety first, then we’ll do it for him. He should never be behind the wheel of a car again.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average drunk driver has driven 80 times while intoxicated before their first arrest.